http://ausairpower.net/APA-9K331-Tor.html Probably the best technical summary of this system was published by Iosif Drize [Chief Designer] and Alexandr Luzan [Advisor to the Director General of the State Corporation Rosvoorouzhenie] in the Rosoboronexport house journal, Military Parade (TOR-M1 SAM SYSTEM: PROTECTING GROUND INSTALLATIONS AGAINST HIGH-PRECISION WEAPONS; Military Parade, 1996), cite:
"In the 1970-1980s, several countries acquired airborne high-precision weapons (HPW - further abbreviated as PGM), boasting improved quality and produced in increased numbers. In terms of effectiveness, the PGM could compare to tactical nuclear weapons, while they could be carried by both strategic aircraft and most flying machines represented by the army and tactical aircraft.
At present, leading military specialists consider the PGM as the main weapon to deliver the first (preventive) strike, capable of disabling or paralyzing air defenses, increasing the capacity and enhancing the effectiveness of the conventional means of air attack. In the course of subsequent combat operations the PGM is used, as a rule, to destroy (neutralize) the vital pinpoint and small-size targets carrying important potentials.
According to modern classification, the tactical PGM include:
1. Antiradar missiles capable of destroying targets at a distance of 15 to 70 and, in perspective, up to 150 km from the launching point and flying at altitudes of 60 m to 12 - 16 km. The effective RCS of such missiles is minimized to about 0.1 m2, while the flight speed varies from 200 to 700 m/s.
2. Airborne guided missiles with infrared, laser or TV homing heads, with a launching range from 6 to 10 km, angles of attack from 8-10 to 45-60 deg, effective RCS from 0.06 to 0.5 m2 and flight speeds from 200 to 600 m/s.
3. Gliding and controlled guided aerial bombs and clusters with a release (drop) range of 8 to 10 km, effective Radiation PatternRCS below 0.5 m2, speed of 250 to 400 m/s and angles of attack up to 50 - 55 deg.
4. Missiles fitted with inertial guidance and terrain avoidance features using the terrain map and capable of flying at 60 m and lower altitudes.
The PGM also include antiship missiles.
Overall, the features that distinguish the PGM (or their destructive components) from other radar targets and offensive means alike are:
- small effective RCS averaging in the forward hemisphere at 0.1 m2 for the centimeter waveband (1.5 - 5 cm);
- wide range of angular rates and angles of approach to the objective of the attack: from level flight at an altitude of 30 to 60 m with terrain avoidance to angles of attack of 45 to 60 deg and more;
- high cruising and maximum speeds of flight (200 to 700 m/s), variable values of such speeds (accelerated and decelerated flights) as well as high operational load factors reaching 8 to 10 g;
- high mechanical strength of guided and controlled aerial bombs, reducing their vulnerability as targets.
Such PGM features help them effectively withstand such systems as Osa, Roland and Crotale-NG. The first two circumstances impose new requirements on radars employed by the SAMs designed to fight the PGM, while the other two impose requirements on the flight ballistics and control loop of the systems as well as on the muscle of their combat equipment.
The low values of effective RCS require huge expenditure of energy by both TAR and TTR, especially in case of electronic countermeasures undertaken by the enemy as well as the implementation of new procedures to seek out and track targets. The TAR must be either three-coordinate or capable of measuring the target angle of site to an accuracy that minimizes the fine search time by the TTR.
The wide range of angles at which the PGM may approach the objective dictates the need for the TAR to shape an isodistant target detection zone instead of the isoheight (cosecant-squared) one widely employed by the SAMs, which is the main reason for the poor effectiveness of the existing SAM systems against the PGM.
In addition, the TAR should realize the principle of criterional processing of the signals, thereby minimizing the level of false alarms, and also examine the target flight paths, categorize the targets, select the most dangerous ones from a group of detected targets and prioritize them. To solve these tasks, the TAR should incorporate a data processor with the required capacity.
The TTR must ensure prompt lockon of one or several targets and automatically track the PGMs to an accuracy sufficient for their reliable engagement by SAMs at prescribed ranges.
Meeting these requirements minimizes the system reaction time.
The following specific demands are imposed on SAMs intended to fight the PGM:
(1) the missiles must be given a minimum possible time to be ready for launch (3-4 s);
(2) the propulsion system of the SAM should ensure its most rapid acceleration (within 3-5 s) to the prescribed speed and support its powered flight to a range no shorter than the prescribed killing range of the PGM. The operational load factors of the SAM must allow it to hit the PGM with a g-load not less than 10 units;
(3) the armament of the SAM must have sufficient power to destroy a highly strong PGM and allow the SAM to adapt to the type (class) of the target to be destroyed;
(4) the cost of the SAM should be the minimum required to achieve the positive balance between the cost of the PGM (plus the cost of the prevented damage) and adjusted cost of the SAM.
The general demands on a SAM system designed to fight the PGM are as follows:
- the engagement range of aircraft that carries optically guided PGM must exceed the effective range of such weapons;
- the reaction time, that is, the time elapsed between target detection and missile firing instants should be at a minimum. This can be attained via high automation of the battle performance based on extensive employment of computers (multiprocessor systems), elements of robotization and artificial intellect for maximum reduction of the crew workload;
- the maximum cost-effectiveness criterion versus minimum cost of the SAM and reasonable (from the viewpoint of its significance) cost of the facility it protects;
- the ability to combine the requisite number of SAMs into a highly automated system designed to defend the vital installations and main groupings of troops at the appropriate level.
Russia's Tor-M1 SAM system is the world's first short-range air defense system specifically tailored for highly effective use against the PGM.